The announcement came one day ahead of the deadline set by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical weapons. Syria had until tomorrow to destroy or to make ‘‘inoperable’’ all of its chemical weapons production facilities and the machinery for mixing chemicals into poison gas and filling weapons with it.

It’s a significant milestone in a timeline that aims to destroy all of Syria’s chemical weapons by the middle of next year. Destruction of the equipment would mean that Syria can no longer produce new chemical weapons.

But Damascus still has to start destroying existing weapons and stockpiles. It’s believed to have around 1,000 metric tons of chemicals and weapons including mustard gas and the nerve agent sarin .